Summer sausage woes

misisipismoke · Jan 24, 2012

I am new to smoking and sausage making. I have made a few batches of venison summer sausage and have a returning problem. I keep ending up with some sticks having a layer of fat between the meat and the casing. I would naturally think that lowering the fat content would solve this but I've used anywhere from 15% to 30% and see the same thing. What is throwing me off is that I don't see it in every stick. If I mixed 10 pounds of meat with too much fat I would expect to see this problem in every stick made. But some will be fine and others will have the fat layer. Am I missing something or do I need to just use less fat? Any insight and/or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

big casino · Jan 24, 2012

sounds like you were getting the temperature of your smoker too hot, and if they were all smoked at the same time sounds as if you have hot spots if some are like that and some are not, some call this a "fat out"

if you get your smoker too hot it will render the fat and it will accumulate on the bottom of your smoker or in the casings, you should not get your smoker temp much higher than 170, and generally an internal temp for SS is 152

DanMcG · Jan 24, 2012

99% sure Big C covered your problem.

Ya got to keep temps low, and you really need a good remote thermo to verify the temps, not the one that came with the smoker

BGKYSmoker · Jan 24, 2012

mossymo · Jan 24, 2012

I agree with Peter, Pete and repeat (what they said...).

boykjo · Jan 24, 2012

I agree with BC about the hot spots but can you give a little more info.. Your making summer sausage sticks? What kind of fat did you add to the venison. what grind plate size did you use. what mixing method did you use. Did you use a pre mix. what type of smoker are you using. what temps are you running.....more input johnny five....

Joe

doctord1955 · Jan 24, 2012

What temp are you smoking at and what is ur finished IT?

misisipismoke · Jan 24, 2012

Thanks Big C. That helps a lot.

boykjo said:
I agree with BC about the hot spots but can you give a little more info.. Your making summer sausage sticks? What kind of fat did you add to the venison. what grind plate size did you use. what mixing method did you use. Did you use a pre mix. what type of smoker are you using. what temps are you running.....more input johnny five....

Joe

When I say sticks I'm refering to the one pound summer sausage. Not sure what the proper word is there. I had a deer processor add pork fat to the meat since I don't have my own grinder yet so I'm not sure about the grind plate and mixing method. I used High Mountain jalapeno mix and I added high temp cheese to it myself. I have a Brinkman vertical smoker and I smoked them at 150 degrees for about 3 hours. The temp got up to 190-200 at times but not for too long. Then I intentionally bumped it up to about 200 to finish them off. I pulled them off when the internal temp reached around 155-165.

Should I start lower that 150? Like 120 or something?

Are there thermometers that will tell me the smoker temp as well as the meat temp? Maybe my thermometer is off.

big casino · Jan 25, 2012

those smoker temps are way too high Misisipi, you melted your fat out of the sausage, were you using a good thermometer for your smoker?

slownlow · Jan 25, 2012

misisipismoke said:
Are there thermometers that will tell me the smoker temp as well as the meat temp? Maybe my thermometer is off.

Test your therm in a boiling pot of water. It should read 212* F. Yes there are dual probe thermometers like this:

http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MAVET-732

mballi3011 · Jan 25, 2012

I'm with theses guys and say that you need to test your thermo meter thingie.

misisipismoke · Jan 25, 2012

Big Casino said:
those smoker temps are way too high Misisipi, you melted your fat out of the sausage, were you using a good thermometer for your smoker?

I was just using the thermometer on the smoker. I'm thinking I may need to replace that now. What temps do you suggest?

SmokinAl · Jan 25, 2012

misisipismoke said:
I was just using the thermometer on the smoker. I'm thinking I may need to replace that now. What temps do you suggest?

You need to get a good digital thermometer like a Maverick 732. You would not want the smoker to get above 170 degrees, and the sausage is done at 154 degrees. At that point you would want to put it in an ice water bath to stop the cooking.

misisipismoke · Jan 27, 2012

This has been very helpful. I appreciate everybody's insight. I'll be trying some more summer sausage soon and I think it will turn out better this time.

slownlow · Jan 28, 2012

misisipismoke said:
This has been very helpful. I appreciate everybody's insight. I'll be trying some more summer sausage soon and I think it will turn out better this time.

Just to give you an idea, the built in thermo on my smoker is off by 50*

smokeamotive · Jan 28, 2012

Yeah, what all these guys said. Never trust the thermometer thats on your smoker. I bought a new horizon smoker and the thermometers were of by 50 deg or more on a $1700.00 smoker. You can also cold smoke them for a nice smokey flavor before finnishing them off to 152 to 155 deg IT. TJohnson can help you out with the thermos and a dust or pellet smoker. You"ll be very happy with what he has to offer.

hoity toit · Jan 28, 2012

I agree with Big Casino. You probably getting it too hot and its rendering the fat.

africanmeat · Jan 28, 2012

I love this place

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